Robert Wiremu - Vocal Tutor
Robert joined the first auditioned version of the NZ Secondary Students’ Choir in 1989 and became a vocal tutor and accompanist for the NZSSC some years later. He stood in as interim director in 2008, leading a successful tour through Argentina and Brazil. He was a member of the NZ National Youth Choir from 1991 to 1994, participating in a tour of Canada and the US in 1993. Since 2000, he has been an accompanist and vocal consultant, and features on their CD releases, Winds that Whisper and Gaude.
In 1994, Robert represented New Zealand as a member of the World Youth Choir, which convened in Montevideo, under the direction of Robert Sund of Sweden, then toured to other parts of Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. In 1999, Robert joined Voices New Zealand on tour to Singapore, for the Asia South Pacific Symposium on Choral Music, and Germany, for the 9th International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf, Germany. He has featured as a soloist with the NZ String Quartet, recorded the Britten realisations of songs by Henry Purcell for Radio NZ Concert, and featured as a soloist on A Voices Christmas.
He is a vocal coach at Auckland University, and is in demand as an adjudicator, consultant and clinician throughout New Zealand. He has been a featured soloist with many major NZ choirs as a singer, pianist and conductor, and also with the APO. He has also been recorded on TVNZ, Radio NZ Concert and a number of CDs produced by Manu, Morrison Trust and EMI Classical.
He is the producer of Rotorua’s iconic event, Opera in the Pa, and was the deputy director of the NZ National Singing School in 2009. For Auckland Festival 09, Robert directed the Auckland Chamber Choir in an all American programme ranging from Eric Whitacre to Morten Lauridsen, Pablo Neruda to Vachal Lindsay.
